No mention that the new rulers of Japan are leftists who will continue to bankrupt that country? They have already taken back many reforms, and promised more social spending.
The Obama admin proposed moving some of our air forces out of Japan in April.
One North Korean missile landing in downtown Tokyo should take care of that...
Did anybody ever find out the real deal on those bonds the Japanese fellows were sneaking in to Switzerland with? They were real, then they were fake, then it turns out one of the guys worked for the Japanese Treasury dept or somesuch, so they were probably real again... it just went round and round, and it never made any sense at all to me that they’d be smuggling fakes, because they would be just to easy to authenticate. If you were smuggling fakes, you’d smuggle them in to South Africa, not Switzerland!!
So we retreat back to our borders and Obama orders the drawdown in personnel. Greaaat! Nothing good will come of this and it will be difficult to recover from, no matter who is president in 2012.
I'm sure N Korea will love that.
If Japan needs to learn a lesson, let them.
As far as trade shifting from east/ west to north south on the worlds continents, that was already happening before this joker was elected in Japan, and that is our own doing.
Until our government learns that it MUST get spending under control and eliminate that national debt, we are going to remain in a weak trading position. We've over spent, and banks have over lent, and the rest of the world isn't going to carry the load anymore, because they have lost trust that the US government can protect their investment.
North Korea and China are soooooo happy. Japan without us to back them are are "sitting ducks"...
What’s so unusual about it?
The Japanese are no dummies, and they are clearly seeing the obvious, and adjusting accordingly. America has so overspent and over-promised that there is no possible way it can either keep its promises or even meet its obligations. So then what happens?
Well, first of all, Japan has to get out of US Treasuries as soon as it can, even at a substantial loss, because the alternative is to lose all of that $750B. But this is actually a *minor* point. What is far more important is that the “Pax Americana” (the American peace in the world) is rapidly coming to an end.
The US military, with a collapsing US economy, will no longer be able to provide for much of the defense of the world. This means both Europe and Asia are going to be on their own, as things were before World War II.
This means that Japan is going to have to rebuild their military, and either diplomatically or militarily contend with China, Russia, and who knows who else. Neighbors who have been kept neighborly by the US suddenly find themselves without a policeman to keep the peace.
Of course, the US will not be completely out of the game, but it will no longer be able to provide support as much, or critically, as fast, as Japan will need.
“Anyone else notice the unusual change in the US/Yen lately.”
Yea - the Yen skyrocketed Friday, while the dollar was otherwise pretty mixed. It looks like the markets are taking him seriously. I don’t have a problem with him going it alone, and I really hope he does stop loaning us money...we need to stop handcuffing our productivity (i.e., no ANWR, yes Delta Smelt, no Nukes, yes solar-unless it takes up land in California, etc.) and the ONLY way we will be forced to live with our policies is if other nations stop giving their wealth to us.
I also hopes he builds some nukes, because they will soon be needed in his neighborhood - and Obama is joke when it comes to looking out for our allies.
Yes. The yen is getting stronger vs. the dollar, and it about to break some longer-term technical levels which might lead to a surge in yen strength by forex traders.
Whatever you might think of the new ruling party in Japan, the previous party has worn out its welcome and has produced no lasting economic improvement for the Japanese people since their market imploded 17 to 18 years ago. It has been nothing but one scheme after another, followed by one excuse why the scheme didn’t work, after another.
After their export-based economy has taken hits every bit as bad as the 1930’s in the last year, the people are furious and they want someone who is going to do something different than the status quo.
On Wednesday, an even bigger torpedo hit. Both U.S. and Japanese officials confirmed that discussions were underway to remove all U.S. fighter aircraft from Japan.
Can’t say that I blame them.
isolationism.....
Well, I’m sure the Japanese know that if our currency goes down hard, then they’re going to sell a lot less of their stuff here. Which is going to hurt them too. The truth is that the Global economy is one big fantasy at this point: countries export to us at a loss to pretend to have rapid economic growth and we pretend to pay them.
There’s absolutely no question that the US can’t go on spending the way it has been the last 20 years. Also no question that many Japanese resent Japanese home base support of US troops there. I have NO DOUBT that leftists of every stripe in Japan want the troops gone —heck, sometimes I feel the same way
But here is where reality intrudes; there’s NK, and there’s China, and SORRY, but there is NO WAY they could get along with no US military presence there.
Let’s say Japan did all it’s own defending —would that please China? NK? SK? All the other asians?
Absolutely not.
Japan might need nukes and aircraft carriers, but they have to do everything they can from panicking the rest of Asia, and this is not the way to accomplish that.
You can draw some similarities between what sank the AMERICA and what's sinking our nation. In 1989 the Rockefeller or Liberal wing of the GOP took over and the GOP never fully recovered. The Rockies were torchbearers of the DEMs liberal agenda. By early 1993 when Bill Clinton took office our military was already on a severe downturn especially the Navy. This was not proposed by Clinton. This was done under Bush sr, Sec of Defense Cheney, and a DEM congress. The later elected GOP so called majority under Clinton's last two years did absolutely nothing to change course either. The Liberalization of the GOP was complete.
When GW Bush was elected he too held steady to the courses set by his Poppy and Clinton on many issues including military strength. Bush took us to two wars with Clinton's 1996 End Troop Strength Levels and passed up a golden opportunity to turn things around military wise. In as much as the GOP congress and Bush JR did nothing to stop Poppy and Clinton's military the GOP today is still an enabler to the DEMs policies. No better example than the turncoats who voted with Barney Frank on bank bailouts.
USS AMERICA as a nation is indeed being sank and it's time to relieve it's Commanding Officer and all other officers responsible of their duties for dereliction of duties.
If he barely slipped in he is likely a one-termer especially with that kooky wife of his who says she met Tom Cruise in an earlier life.
First, no. Second, Japan would just lend to Asian countries in Yen instead of the US, its savings still go out into the world savings pool, and the US borrows still in dollars from Taiwan, China, etc.
Second, if the Yen goes to 50 you can put an "out of business" sign on the entire country, which can barely compete with China and the Tigers with the yen as strong as it already is.
Now, if instead of lending to the world at 0, Japan wants to actually consume its output, that would be a different story. If Japan wants to shift to a more consumer society, great, go for it. But the idea that anyone is beholden to savers who charge 0 is ridiculous on its face.
Until there is enough economic growth in Japan that their own interest rates rise above zero, all this loose talk is just so much ignorant strutting by socialist idiots who have no idea how the economy works.
Isn’t it great the rest of the world loves us again after 8 years of Bush? /s